Second-generation Wilkerson to drive dad's car at IHRA event 

NHRA
Funny Car point leader Tim Wilkerson has spent much of the 2008 season
trailblazing his way round the country securing victories and top
qualifying positions.

Later this month, he’ll get to see his car run from a different perspective – the outside.

Wilkerson will step aside in two weeks to allow his 20-year old son Dan
to drive during the IHRA Motor City Nationals in Milan, Michigan, May
23 – 25, 2008.

“I am about as excited as he is,” Tim Wilkerson said. “We had planned
this outing at the beginning of the year and I wanted him to keep his
license and to do that you have to race a couple of times a year. We
decided we were going to (run Dan) unless things were going really bad
in the season.”

IHRA
national event won’t happen in 2009, IHRA says …

The proposed IHRA national event for Pittsburgh, Pa, slated for May
2009, has been put in a holding pattern alongside of the Mansfield,
Ohio event. IHRA officials are confident the event at Pittsburgh
Raceway Park will be contested in May of 2010.

As for Mansfield, EPA issues continue to dog the event which was
expected to be the IHRA’s answer to losing flagship facility Norwalk
Raceway Park in Norwalk, Ohio, located outside of Cleveland in late
2006. The IHRA is based in Norwalk, Ohio.

The Pittsburgh event was to be one of the new events in 2009 expected
to run on an eighth-mile strip. The decision to postpone, according to
the IHRA, was a collective one based on the current economic climate,
rising fuel prices and an election year.

The 17th annual Doug Herbert Performance Center Open House will take place this Saturday, May 10, 2007.

Doug Herbert, owner of Doug Herbert Performance Parts and driver of the
SnapFranchise.com Top Fuel dragster, will be on hand throughout the
day, manning the parts counter, signing autographs and firing the
SnapFranchise.com dragster.

The entire SnaponFranchise.com Top Fuel team will be present to display
for customers the haulers and equipment used to transport the entire
race operation across the country and from track to track.

The Open House, held every year the day before Mother’s Day, will also
feature an amazing car show, several food vendors, and plenty of
performance parts on sale at the best prices possible.

Bob Hedman's power producing Hedders gained national notoriety while racing on the salt flats of
California and Utah in the 1950s. That humble, grassroots history has instilled in Hedman, a selfless
dedication to supporting racers of all levels. From local street legal classes to NHRA Top Fuel
Dragsters, the Hedman Performance Group posts contingency dollars and product to the sum of nearly
$750,000 in 2008 alone.

RogerRichards Photos

One might say Alan Bradshaw’s first round victory at the NHRA Gateway Nationals in St. Louis, Mo., last Sunday was inspired.

Alan Bradshaw enjoyed a great weekend of honoring Darrell Russell.

Bradshaw was driving a tribute car to the late Darrell Russell, the
popular Top Fuel driver who was killed at St. Louis’s Gateway
International Raceway in a racing accident in 2004.

Adding to the motivation was the fact Bradshaw hadn’t won a round of
competition since succeeding J.R. Todd as driver of Dexter Tuttle’s
dragster at the start of the 2008 season.

Kurt Johnson admitted he was afraid.

After watching the racing surface at Gateway International Raceway
during the recently completed NHRA Midwest Nationals make a mockery of
many of his fellow racers’ combinations, Johnson had doubts.

Kurt
Johnson won the 37th event of his career, first of the 2008 season and
third at Gateway International Raceway. (Roger Richards)

If there were to be any hopes of winning his first race since February
of 2007 [Phoenix, Az.], Johnson was going to have to make serious
adjustments to his combination.

"We were scared to touch the car after running a .58 earlier in the
day," Johnson said, "but we knew we had to make some changes.  We
changed gears around, we changed the clutch around, and the whole
ACDelco crew came together and we did what we needed to do.”

Tom Hammonds, NHRA Pro Stock Car driver/owner and retired NBA player,
will take his national school program, Tom Hammonds Race for
Achievement, to Vance Middle School in Bristol, Tenn., on Wednesday,
May 14, at 12:45 p.m. EST in conjunction with O'Reilly NHRA Thunder
Valley Nationals.

Tom Hammonds Race for Achievement allows Hammonds to interact with
students through message.  Vance Middle School students will
participate in an assembly where he will speak about the importance of
education, sportsmanship, and leadership.  After the assembly, fifty
students will view the NHRA Pro Stock Chevrolet Cobalt and
transporter.    

During the assembly, Hammonds and Vance Middle School will be presented
with a proclamation declaring it "Tom Hammonds Race for Achievement
Day" in the city of Bristol, Tenn.  Fifty students meeting set criteria
will be chosen to receive an O'Reilly Auto Parts® Race Pack, filled
with goodies supplied by program supporters (GM, Goodyear, and
MacTools®), Tom Hammonds Hero Card, and two tickets to Friday's
O'Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals race at the Bristol Dragway.

Team JEGS drivers John and Mike Coughlin will look to continue their hot starts
to the 2008 season when the North Central Division Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series
resumes this weekend in Norwalk, Ohio. Both Coughlin’s are energized and
following a pair of wins at the season-opening event at O’Reilly Raceway Park at
Indianapolis three weeks ago. Mike claimed the Top Sportsman title while John
won in Super Stock with his JEGS.com Chevy Cobalt. It was the second time in the
last year that the Coughlin brothers have shared the winner’s circle at an NHRA
Lucas Oil Series event.
           
“That was a great way to start the
season, now Mike and I just need to keep the momentum going,” said John, who
will compete in Super Stock and Top Dragster. “Any time you have a successful
weekend, you want to keep going. The next race can’t arrive soon enough and
that’s the way we feel right now. We’re anxious to get back to the
track.”

Three winners in four events, the reemergence of reigning champion Josh
Hernandez, and a change at the top of the JEGS championship points standings are
just a few of the reasons the JEGS ProMod Challenge is experiencing one of its
best years ever.

Next on the docket is the fifth race of the 10-race
season, the eighth annual O'Reilly Thunder Valley NHRA Nationals, to be
contested May 16-18 at Bristol Dragway. It's going to be a tight field of just
20 professionals, which places extra importance on race day
success.

After an exhaustive review of 4,365 entries in a naming contest for
Lowe's Motor Speedway's new dragway, Speedway Motorsports officials
have selected zMAX Dragway @ Concord as the official name for the
state-of-the-art facility.

"We were overwhelmed by the response from race fans," said Bruton
Smith, chairman and chief executive officer of Speedway Motorsports,
Inc. "They suggested everything from Burnout Boulevard to The Southern
Slingshot to The Main Drag. Two people entered zMAX Dragway and we're
going to reward both of them."

Wanda Exum, of Greensboro, N.C., and Carl Hackley, of Charlotte,
submitted the winning entries. Each will receive two VIP tickets to the
inaugural NHRA Nationals on Sept. 11-14, four-night accommodations at
The Embassy Suites in Concord, dinner for two at The Speedway Club and
a $1,000 cash prize.

"zMAX is a quality product that has been involved in drag racing for
several years," Smith said. "This name association with the finest drag
racing facility in the world will raise zMAX's already growing profile."